


Midnight Run

by ancestrallizard



Category: Shin Megami Tensei Series, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Genre: Gen, Humor, takes place post-freedom ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9127294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancestrallizard/pseuds/ancestrallizard
Summary: Naoki was tired. Naoki never asked for this. Naoki just wanted to get some goddamn candy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write fic for this tumblr post: http://ancestrallizard.tumblr.com/post/154138635822/landoftheway-young-replica-i-went-to-the

Naoki hated the desert.

“Weep and despair, candelabrum wielder! I’ve finally caught you unawares!”

The dry air scraped his nose and throat raw, while the harsh winds carried grains of sand that irritated his skin and eyes.

“With your defeat, I will gain the power and reputation to become a true fiend!”

At least he had his frayed track jacket this time, as well as some scraps of spare change and a fistful of snacks he’d been minutes away from buying before he ended up in this arid hellscape.

“Witness my almighty–Are you listening to me?”

His brow furrowed in sudden alarm. The sour lemon ones, the last on the sales rack as far as he could remember, would probably be fine, but what if the heat melted the chocolate?

“Hey! Pay Attention!”

The young man finally focused his gaze on the reason he’d been teleported away from a sticky-floored, harshly lit convenience store at ten o’clock at night, in the middle of just trying to buy some goddamn candy.

The cloaked demon pointed a skeletal finger at him. Thrumming arcane energies spiraled around it, supercharging the already ozone soaked air with a promise of menace. “Prepare to die!”

Naoki might have been intimidated if the demon was taller than waist-height. Before his apparent foe could squeak out another threat or ultimatum, Naoki tried to bargain. 

“I would give you a candelabrum if it would make you leave me alone, but I don’t have them anymore. And if you fight me for ‘reputation’ or whatever, I _will_ kill you. That’s how this always goes.”

The demon was silent in what Naoki assumed was consideration. It had no skin or muscle on its bony face, so he had no way to tell what it was thinking.

“I was in the middle of something before you pulled me here. If you just let me get back to what I was doing, I won’t kill you. Deal?”

A small ball of fire flew through the air and hit Naoki’s hand. He let go of the candy more from shock than any real pain, and he smelled the acrid stench of burning plastics and sugars even before it hit the ground. Naoki watched in silence as the flames consumed the chocolate and the last of the lemon candy, until there was nothing left but sticky tar and scraps of burnt paper. The residue was promptly either buried in the sand or blew away to parts unknown. 

The demon had another spell waiting in the palm of its hand. Naoki stared it down for a second, then shrugged off his jacket and threw it off to the side. As long as it didn’t get too torn up, he could wash the dirt off of it later. 

 

Naoki entered Chiaki’s parent’s apartment dripping wet from a surprise rainstorm and carrying a plastic bag overstuffed with candy and snacks. Streetlights and neon signs cast a soft multicolored glow through the large rain-streaked windows into the cavernous living space. Chiaki and Isamu were seated on a very plush, very expensive looking couch, attention fixed on the game on the television screen. Eyes never leaving the game he was playing, Isamu said, “Took you long enough.”

Naoki replied by throwing a packet of fruit snacks at him. Honed by years of practice, his toss knocked off Isamu’s hat in one hit. 

Isamu dropped the controller and squawked indignantly. Naoki threw a package of candy at Chiaki too, but she somehow caught it without even looking. He leapt over the back of the couch and settled into the space between them. He took a package from the convenience store bag he’d dropped at their feet and ripped it open with his teeth, scattering round pink and purple candies on the floor and under the sofa. 

Isamu had retrieved his controller, after putting his hat back on, and resumed the game, still fighting the same boss he was when Naoki had left almost an hour before. Naoki scooped some candy into his mouth and crunched it between his molars as he watched Isamu’s entire party get wiped out in one hit by the enemy, only to be revived moments later. It seemed to be happening quite often.

“Seriously though, what kept you?” Chiaki asked over Isamu’s muttered cursing.

Naoki crunched another mouthful of candy. “Just some stuff.”

Both Isamu and his enemy were focusing more on buffs and debuffs than actually hitting each other. Naoki silently rooted for him as his party took another near fatal hit.

Chiaki stared at Naoki for a moment, then tapped under her own right eye. “You missed a spot.”

He caught a glance of himself in the mirror on the far wall. His right eye still glowed a bright, dangerous yellow. He concentrated on it, and the yellow gave way to slate-grey.

Chiaki opened her own candy and told Isamu his strategy was wrong. He replied with something rude, and she lobbed a piece of candy over Naoki’s head and onto the brim of his hat. Naoki finished his snack as Isamu’s party died again, permanently this time. He cursed loudly as he restarted the boss fight.

It was still storming outside, the rhythm of rain and distant thunder creating a lullaby. Naoki closed his eyes and leaned into the warm bodies around him, pressing his shoulder against Chiaki’s and brushing his leg up against Isamu’s leg. The music of the restarted boss fight joined the rain to create a tonal background hum. 

There was a sudden chill on his side as Isamu left. Naoki heard him walk away but was too tired to open his eyes and see what he was doing. He heard him return, and felt something wide and soft fall on him that smelled like laundry. Isamu returned to his spot on the couch and resumed the game as the blanket, and his friends, warmed Naoki and carried him further toward sleep.

He heard the crinkle of plastic as Isamu opened his own candy wrapper. “Ugh, this has chocolate in it. Did you get any more konpeitō?”

The packet of sugar candies in Naoki’s pocket dug into his side as he relaxed further into the couch. “Nope.”

 

_Some Time Later…_

 

“It happened again?” Pixie asked. “Maybe if you stopped going out at night. Would that help?”

Naoki broke another colorful sugar candy in two and handed her half. “No, that can’t be it. Last time it was when I was waiting at bus depot in the morning, and the time before that I was in lecture – Hey!”

A sharp, inquisitive snout was trying to burrow its way into his pocket. He gently shoved Inugami’s head away from the rest of the candy. “Don’t hog all of it, you’ll get some more.”

He tossed a few more candies to the demonic hound, who snapped them up immediately. Mothman, who’d already gotten his share, was perched on a lamp post above them trying to pick off any bats who might pass by. The park was deserted at this hour, and anyone who did happen by was probably not going to investigate a kid on a park bench surrounded by demons. 

He was about to hand Pixie the other half of the candy when she asked, “Naoki..?”

But her voice sounded wrong, distant even though she was seated on the back of the bench right next to him. All of the sounds of the park at night muted at once and the air pressure warped, making his ears pop. 

The bench disappeared and he was left sitting in dirt and sand, winds howling around him as lightning flashed in the distance.

“Demifiend! I challenge you to a duel to the death, in order to gain the glory and recognition of one who has defeated a candelabrum wielder!”

Naoki hated the desert.

**Author's Note:**

> If you ever want to read more smt nonsense feel free to message me on my tumblr: ancestrallizard.tumblr.com


End file.
